


All That Hair

by Untherius



Category: Princess Series - Jim C. Hines
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5464034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untherius/pseuds/Untherius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During an excursion across Lorindar, Danielle and company return with an unexpected guest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That Hair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [calloftherunningtide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/calloftherunningtide/gifts).



A muffled thump, followed by a curse, floated down from high above Danielle's head. She exchanged glances with Gerta. They both shrugged and returned their attention to the tower. They'd quickly lost track of just how many of such utterances had issued forth over the last few minutes.

Something small flew out the window. Danielle ducked just before it hit the ground with a dull, metallic thud. She turned to look at whatever it was that had just nearly killed her. Only a few feet away, an iron frying pan stood embedded edgewise in the earth where it joined an expanding collection of various household items, most of them rather heavy.

“A little help up here!” Talia's voice floated down. It was followed by more thuds, grunts, and shrieks. In other words, the unmistakable sounds of Talia trying to wipe the walls with someone and having a hard time of it.

Danielle groaned. “Didn't she say...?”

“Yes.”

Danielle sighed. “Why does she do that, anyway?”

“You mean overextend herself and get into trouble? No idea.”

Danielle grunted and craned her neck upward once more.

“Any time now, ladies!” Talia shouted from above. More crashes and thuds answered her. Something spalled off the tower, bouncing off the ground a few paces to Danielle's left.

“Right,” Danielle muttered. “Easy for you to say.”

A flicker of motion to Danielle's right became Gerta rising gently upward. Danielle gaped as her friend neatly cleared the wooden timbers framing the tower's only window, and vanished within.

“Show-off,” she said quietly, as the sounds of battle above sharply escalated.

She surveyed the defiant masonry before her. Each block had been meticulously dressed and dry-stacked. Only where the boundaries between blocks met beneath the middle of the block above were there any holds at all. Even those were barely enough for a single fingertip. Yet Talia had scaled it. If Danielle was going to follow, she was going to have to cut very large divots out of the stone. But that would take time and tools, neither of which she had.

A few moments later, Gerta's head appeared far above. “Well?” she demanded. “Are you coming, or what?”

“Um...what,” said Danielle.

Gerta cocked her head.

“What? My mother's sword is strong, but I'm not about to try chopping at a rock wall with it.”

Gerta looked back inside, then back down. “Hold that thought.” Then she vanished.

Danielle let out a sigh. It was one of those moments when it was hard to remember that Gerta wasn't Snow.

“Duck!” Gerta shouted.

Something yellow immediately issued from the window and fell straight toward Danielle. She barely had time to spin out of the way. She looked up. “Gerta! What are you...?” She stopped, then stared at the yellow thing that had nearly hit her. “Is this...hair?”

Gerta's face appeared again. “Um...yes. Yes, it is.” She grabbed the hair and looped it over something fixed to the window frame. “Well? Come on up! There...seems to be a complication.”

Danielle sighed. “Of course there is,” she muttered. She grabbed the hair and began to climb, using the wall's friction to help. It seemed to take forever to reach the little window. Gerta grabbed her and hauled her inside.

It took several moments for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she saw she was inside a round room. A ladder led to a loft that seemed to have as much floor space as the one on which she stood. A few small tables hugged the walls and several shelves had been mounted to the timbers. A myriad of items cluttered the shelves.

In the center of the room, a frightened girl sat trembling on the floor. Talia knelt behind her, with the girl in a very uncomfortable-looking hold, one arm pinned behind the back. Danielle assumed the knife Talia held to the girl's throat was for good measure.

“Um...do I want to know?” Danielle asked.

“She fights hard,” said Talia.

“She's scared,” said Danielle. “Look at her.”

Talia glared at Danielle. “She wasn't scared a few moments ago.”

“You mean when she was throwing cooking implements out the window?”

“She's pretty good with that thing,” said Talia.

“The frying pan?”

“Who knew, right?” said Gerta.

“That doesn't mean she wasn't afraid. And you holding a knife to her isn't helping.” Danielle knelt down beside the girl. She looked young, though she could have been sixteen or seventeen. Given the length of the girl's impossibly long hair, Danielle might have added several years to her estimate. “Milady?” she said gently.

The girl's frightened eyes flickered from Danielle toward Talia, then back to Danielle.

Danielle sighed. “Talia, would you at least lower the knife?”

“She's dangerous,” said Talia.

“Yes, well, so are we. Please?”

Talia slowly lowered the knife. “But if she throws us out the window...” Talia let the sentence dangle.

The girl tipped her head downward slightly and her breathing slowed a little.

“Milady?” Danielle repeated. “What's your name?”

“Rapunzel,” she said softly.

Rapunzel? Danielle thought. Who would name a girl after a common vegetable? “Rapunzel,” said Danielle, “I'm Danielle Whiteshore. This is Talia Malak-el-Dahshat, and this is Gerta Curtana. We're not your enemies.”

Rapunzel held Danielle's gaze, large blue eyes practically glowing in the gloom. “Talia, would you please release her?”

Talia snorted, then complied.

Rapunzel gingerly rubbed her shoulder. “Then why did you break into my tower?” she said.

Danielle looked at Talia, then at Gerta, then back at Rapunzel. “It's complicated.”

“Princess?” said Gerta. “Can I talk to you over here?”

Danielle stood up and followed Gerta over to the window.

“Does she look familiar to you?” Gerta asked quietly.

Danielle looked back at the girl, then turned away. “I don't think so. Why?”

“You don't spend much time with the Guard, do you?”

Danielle rolled her eyes, then shook her head. Leave it to Gerta to follow after Snow.

“She looks an awful lot like one of the Captains,” Gerta continued. “Mustard, they call him.”

Danielle looked sharply at Gerta. “That Captain Mustard? The one we had to arrest last week for knifing someone in the Conservatory?”

Gerta nodded. “I think I see why he's been so much trouble.” She jerked her head at the girl.

“You think this is a relative of his?”

“I do. And I think she's being held here against her will.”

“She's his daughter,” said Talia from just over Danielle's shoulder.

“How do you know that?” said Danielle.

“He drinks too much,” said Talia, “and talks when he drinks.”

Danielle and Gerta looked at Talia.

“Something about having to give her up as a baby,” said Talia. “Drove him to drink.”

Danielle cocked an eyebrow. “And he never reported her missing?”

Talia shrugged.

“Why do I not know about this?” Danielle asked.

“Compartmentalization?” Talia suggested.

Danielle stepped back over to Rapunzel and knelt down again. “What is your surname?”

Rapunzel shrugged.

“Who's your father?”

Rapunzel shrugged again.

“Your mother?”

“Gothel,” said Rapunzel.

“Is that her given name?”

Rapunzel blinked. “I don't know.”

Danielle groaned. One thing was certain: they were not likely to learn the rest of the story in the tower. Which meant they'd have to take Rapunzel with them back to Whiteshore. That, in turn, meant that whoever had imprisoned her was going to be very upset when they found out.

She stood up and gathered Rapunzel's hair about two arms' lengths from the girl's scalp. She drew her glass sword. The blade glinted, even in the dimness. Rapunzel shrank back.

“Princess?” said Talia. “What are you doing?”

Danielle sliced through the golden tresses in a single stroke. The strands fell away, lighting gently against Rapunzel's body. Danielle cringed slightly. It was almost a crime to do that to such a head of hair. She could almost hear Snow's disapproving voice echoing in the back of her mind.

Rapunzel's jaw dropped, an expression of horror washing across her face. “Don't worry,” said Danielle, “it should still fall past your knees, even when braided.”

“Oh,” said Gerta. “I suppose we could do that.”

Danielle returned her sword to its scabbard, then held a hand out to Rapunzel. The girl stared at it.

“Well?” said Talia. “Do you want to stay in here forever?”

Danielle shot Talia a glance. “I think you can put your knife away now, Talia,” she said evenly.

Talia shrugged, then stowed her blade back who-knew-where.

Danielle gestured toward the window. Rapunzel stared at it, then back at Danielle. Danielle cocked an eyebrow.

“I'll show her!” said Gerta cheerily. She grabbed the hair, secured it more firmly around the sturdy iron hook mounted to the window frame, then swung out, quickly vanishing. A few moments later, “There! Nothing to it!”

_Easy for her to say_ , Danielle thought.

Rapunzel still seemed disinclined to budge.

“Are you going to stand up,” said Talia, “or are we going to have to haul you out of here bodily?”

A moment later, Talia stepped around behind Rapunzel. The girl apparently took the hint. She gathered her feet under her and stood up, her hair nearly brushing the floor. She craned her neck around and cringed, no doubt at Talia's glare. She stepped gingerly toward the window, looked out, then froze.

“Do we have to push you?” said Talia.

Rapunzel twisted around, a look of terror on her face.

“Talia,” said Danielle quietly, “I'm pretty sure that's not helping.”

Talia shrugged.

“It's alright, Rapunzel,” said Danielle, as gently as she could. “Just hold on tight, and...Gerta will catch you.”

Rapunzel looked from Danielle to her severed hair to the window, then back to Danielle. Danielle nodded. Rapunzel let out a whimper. She stepped sat tentatively on the window sill, then grabbed the hair in a death grip. She sat there on the sill, looking down, and nearly hyperventilating.

Talia stepped up, reached around behind Danielle, and pushed on Rapunzel. She slipped off the edge, and dropped out of sight, her shrill scream quickly fading.

Danielle rounded on Talia. “What did you do?!” she demanded.

Talia shrugged. “She wasn't going.”

“Caught her!” Gerta called from below.

“See?” said Talia.

“I was going to talk her off the ledge,” said Danielle through clenched teeth.

“She has prehensile hair,” said Talia.

Danielle blinked. “Wha...?”

Talia didn't let her finish. Instead, she leaped through the window, caught the hair with one hand, then spun downward out of sight.

Danielle let out a growl of frustration, then looked out and down herself. Rapunzel lay on the ground. Gerta knelt over her and Talia leaned casually against the tower. Danielle rolled her eyes, then sat on the sill and gripped the hair. It was going to be a very long day.

* * *

Danielle heaved a sigh of relief as she watched the walls of the outer gate-house of Whiteshore Castle slide past her. She guided her horse toward the stables and reined in as a groom rushed out to meet her.

“Right,” she said over her shoulder. “We're here.” There was no response. “It means you can get off now,” she added.

Rapunzel squeaked. “I can't,” she said softly.

Danielle blinked. “Uh...why not?”

Rapunzel just whimpered. Strands of hair whipped around in front of Danielle and tightened across her shoulders and upper chest.

Danielle sighed again. “Rapunzel,” she said, her patience hanging by a shred, “look, I thought you were past this. When you did this the first time, we understood. When you did it the second time, we still understood. But we've been on and off horses for the last three days. Get off of this one, and I'll guarantee you won't have to touch one for...well, for a while. Or does Talia have to...”

Danielle didn't finish her sentence. The hair, and Rapunzel's arms, immediately let go. She felt the weight shift. The horse shifted slightly in the other direction. Rapunzel shrieked in alarm, grasping at Danielle's arm. Something thumped solidly on the ground.

Danielle cringed, then dismounted neatly. Rapunzel lay on her back, staring up at nothing in particular, dragging breaths in great, labored gasps.

“That,” said Talia, slipping easily from her own horse, “was, without a doubt, the worst dismount I have ever seen.”

Danielle looked up and rolled her eyes at Talia, but held her tongue. There wasn't much she could say to her friend that hadn't already been said. Instead, she knelt down beside Rapunzel. “Take deep breaths,” she said evenly. “It'll pass.”

She waited patiently. Rapunzel's breathing eventually eased. Danielle helped her into a sitting position.

“Thank you,” she wheezed.

“Gerta,” said Danielle, “will you...” But Gerta was gone. Danielle suppressed a groan, thankful they'd all gone over the plan not an hour before. That plan involved, among other things, copious amounts of specific herbal teas which were Gerta's specialty. “Talia,” she said instead, “would you please not hover?”

Talia stepped back a pace and folded her arms. “Do you need me right now?” she asked.

“I think I can handle her, thank you,” said Danielle.

Talia cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

Danielle considered that for a moment. She'd faced down two homicidally vindictive stepsisters, a sociopathic mermaid, a shape-shifting assassin, a demon-possessed Snow, and more days of seasickness than she cared to count, among a great many other things. Normally, a frightened recluse would have been no trouble at all.

But Rapunzel was not normal. Danielle knew full well that frightened people often did desperate things. And then there was the prehensile hair. No, it wouldn't hurt to have Talia standing nearby.

She turned back to Rapunzel. “Actually, that depends on you.”

“On...on me?” Rapunzel croaked.

Danielle nodded. “We're not your enemy,” she said gently for what had to have been the twentieth time, at least. “Here, let me help you up.” She wasn't entirely sure the girl really needed it, but Rapunzel was still visibly winded and Danielle had plenty of personal experience with that.

Rapunzel locked eyes with her, then extended a hand. Danielle grasped it by the wrist and smoothly hauled the girl to her feet, catching her about the waist. “Just...keep the hair to yourself, alright?”

Rapunzel nodded.

* * *

“I didn't know this could feel so good,” Danielle groaned.

“You say that every time we return from one of our...outings,” said Talia.

Danielle peered through the thick steam filling the small room and smiled.

“I still say,” said Gerta, “that this is the best idea Snow ever had.”

“Second to her seasickness tea, that is,” Danielle corrected.

Talia chuckled. Danielle smiled. Gerta grinned. Rapunzel made an inquisitive noise.

“Do you know what the runes carved on the lintel outside the door say?” I asked.

Rapunzel shook her head.

“They say, 'Ermilinia Curtana Memorial Sauna,'” I said.

“Oh.” At length, she added, “I...wish I could have met her. You all make her sound like a very special lady.”

Danielle smiled. Some of the pain of Snow's death was still a little raw, and probably would be for some time. But telling stories about her had helped. It also helped keep her memory, and to some extent the woman herself, alive. That was one reason the three of them had shared with Rapunzel their memories of Snow. The other was to help put Rapunzel get to know them as people, and consequently put her a little more at ease. Another was to pass time between making camp and bedding down for the night during the return to Whiteshore.

The door opened, and Armand poked his head in. “Oh,” he said. “Hello, family.”

“Well,” said Talia, “don't just stand there. You're letting out all the steam.”

Armand grunted, then closed the door, sitting down beside Danielle. She leaned against him and sighed. “I missed you,” she muttered.

“Me, too,” he muttered back. He kissed her on the top of the head. Then, “Is this a new private meeting place?”

Danielle shrugged. “Not really. It's been a cold and damp few days. And I don't feel comfortable just yet letting Rapunzel here out of my sight. And, well, those Northlanders have some very good ideas. This being one of their best.” She gestured at the walls.

“Am I intruding?” he asked.

“Not anymore.” Danielle smiled. “But I might be able to arrange for you to...intrude...a little later this evening.” She could almost hear Talia and Gerta squirm.

A light hiss preceded another puff of steam from the hot rocks in the floor. A flicker of yellow came and went in Danielle's peripheral vision. She had to admit that Rapunzel's prehensile hair just might come in handy.

They all sat there wordlessly for a while, then piled out of the small room.

* * *

Danielle and Armand sat beside each other in separate chairs. Captain Thorne stood in front of them. His still-damp hair stuck out at odd angles. He scowled, probably about the forced bathing. The clean linen tunic he wore was a little big for him.

“Well,” said Armand, “we have good news and bad news. The good news is that it looks like the gardener will live. So we won't have to hang you. The bad news is that you'll still stand trial for aggravated assault. Do you have anything to say for yourself that isn't already in the report?”

Thorne shook his head.

“So,” said Danielle, “would you care to tell us why people call you 'Captain Mustard?'”

Thorne squirmed. “What does that have to do with...?”

“Your Princess asked you a question,” Talia growled from beside Danielle's elbow, “and you _will_ answer it.”

The Captain flinched visibly, then launched into a story. Seventeen years ago, his wife had been pregnant with their first child. At the time, they had lived in a small town a little to the southwest. Their living quarters had been on an upper floor and had overlooked the walled garden of a local woman reputed to be a sorceress.

Partway through the pregnancy, his wife had begun to crave rampion. It had been no ordinary hunger for it, but more like the way a drunk can't get enough mead. At his wits' end, he had climbed over the wall and stolen a little bit of what grew in the old woman's garden. He remembered there being a lot of it, and cutting it in such a way as to not be noticed. But he'd been wrong.

After three weeks, he'd been caught red-handed. The woman had threatened to hand him over to the local Sheriff. Thorne had begged and pleaded. In the end, the woman had agreed to release him on the condition that he bring her the child his wife carried. He'd agreed.

Some months later, his wife had given birth to a beautiful, golden-haired girl. The very next day, the old woman had come knocking. She'd demanded the child, much to the wife's horror. After much bickering, the woman had taken the child and no one had seen either of them since.

Thorne had joined the guard at Whiteshore in the hopes of being assigned to a roving unit. His plan had been to use that as a means to hunt for his daughter. But things had not panned out that way, and despite repeated promotions, he'd eventually crawled into the bottle. The rest was in his record.

Armand grunted. “If we had known about this, we might have been able to help. Is there a reason you kept it to yourself?”

“It...was my business. And I stole. I thought I should try to fix my own mistakes.”

Armand made a pensive sound. “Yet your silence on the matter seems to have caused some problems. That makes it our business. Fortunately, we may have a solution. Princess?” he said, turning to Danielle.

Danielle smiled. “Captain, is there anything unusual about your daughter that might set her apart from other fair-haired girls of that age?”

Thorne nodded. “Yes, your Highness. She has...a birth mark. On the back of her left shoulder. Shaped like a cross.”

“Or a radish flower?”

The man's eyes widened.

Danielle exchanged a glance with Armand.

“Captain,” said Armand, “we think we found your daughter.”

Thorne's mouth fell open.

“But before we proceed, there are a few things you need to know. Mainly that she was raised by someone else. Which means that to her, you're a complete stranger. She has to learn to love you and that will take time. Also, she was given the name Rapunzel. So she won't readily answer by the name you and your wife gave her. Please be patient with her.”

“Gerta,” said Danielle, “would you bring her in, please?”

A door opened. Gerta stepped out, leading Rapunzel by the hand. The girl cleaned up well. Her yellow hair hung in a single thick braid down her back, tied off with a blue ribbon just past her knees. It complemented the muted dusty lavender silk diupioni gown she'd been given. The dress she'd been wearing had been deemed a total loss, fit only for use as rags.

Thorne gasped. “L..lucia? Oh, you look just like your mother.”

“I...” said Rapunzel. She looked at Gerta, then Danielle. She grimaced slightly, then stepped tentatively toward Thorne.

Thorne took one step, then another, then practically launched himself at Rapunzel, pulling her tightly against himself. He began to weep.

Rapunzel stiffened. Her braid twitched. After several moments, she relaxed and put her arms around her father. They stayed that way for some time.

When they finally pulled apart, father and daughter looking into each other's eyes, Armand said, “We understand if you want to take your daughter home with you. We're sure her mother will want to see her, too.”

Thorne nodded vigorously.

“If you'd like,” Danielle added, “I could accompany you. I have a fair amount of experience with complete strangers becoming a family.” She smiled at Gerta and Talia. “In fact, it's probably a good idea that I do. I...and Gerta and Talia as well...have spent time with your daughter. She's a delightful person. But she has some...baggage. The three of us know something about that, too.”

Thorne considered that for a few moments, then nodded.

Danielle smiled. It was turning out to be a very good day.


End file.
